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Monday, February 27, 2012

Century Building SLAPP Concluded?

Many years ago, there was a beautiful building in downtown St. Louis, sheathed entirely of marble, and featuring a large open floor plan on the first floor easily adaptable for reuse, as it was once a department store and theater back in St. Louis's heyday. Two citizens, Roger Plackemeier and Marcia Behrendt, believed it was outright ridiculous to tear down such a beautiful building, and they sued to stop it, as is their right as Americans. They were counter-sued by the developers, initiating a SLAPP suit, who tore down the building to build a parking garage with the same shape, with a grocery store on the first floor. The developer refused, for six years, to give the two concerned citizens their day in court. Apparently, last year, the case was finally heard, and the jurors called to the trial. But at the last moment, the parties settled, and the judgment on the one charge the defendants plead guilty to was sealed. What really happened? We'll never know, perhaps, since the two parties are barred from talking about it. Does anyone else know anything about what happened that day in court?

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